Diaper Dreams
by Karel
Summary: Written for an ELF challenge, it's short and slightly bizarre


  
  
  
  
  
Diaper Dreams  
  
  
  
takes place shortly after Daggers ends.  
  
  
  
Lucas, partially slumped in his chair, tried to keep his eyelids open as he stared at the video game that was playing on his computer screen. He half heartedly stabbed at the keyboard button, sighing when a wail erupted from his bunk. "How the heck did I end up with diaper duty?" he mumbled to himself, not for the first time during this never ending evening.   
  
Sometimes being the youngest on the seaQuest really sucked. Dagwood had declared a new unofficial holiday, GELF Freedom Day and the adults went off happily, out to dinner to celebrate with their new GELF friends and he had gotten sucked into babysitting the GELF baby.   
  
The cries were louder now, and more desperate, as he stumbled tiredly across the cabin but he stepped on something and went flying as pain shot through his foot. Sprawled on the floor, the baby now howling on his bed, Lucas picked up the offensive hair brush that he had stepped on and threw it across the room. Could this day get any worse?   
  
The door opened, and Tony came galloping into the cabin. Damn. It just got worse.  
  
"Hey, kid, you better do something for that kid. You can hear him screaming down the hall."Tony grabbed his wallet from his locker and stuffed it in his pocket. "You look horrible, Luke. Too bad you've gotta play mommy tonight. A bunch of us are going to that new bar they've been advertising, you know the one with all the 3D and virtual reality games and stuff." Smirking at the teen, Tony was enjoying the situation. "I'll bring ya back a pack of matches or something." As he moved to the door, he stopped and wrinkled his nose. "I think ya need to do a little pooper scooping, if you get my drift. See ya!" Piccolo disappeared out the door.   
  
Refusing to let Tony get on the one nerve he had left, he pulled himself up and took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. It wasn't the babies fault and getting pissed at Bridger wasn't going to help much either. Reaching for the Pampers bag, he snagged a white diaper and the wipes with one hand as he gently stroked the baby's arm with the other.   
  
"Ssssh, baby, it'll be ok. Don't cry." Throwing the diapering supplies on Tony's bunk, he picked up the baby and carefully positioned the child on his shoulder, awkwardly. He was still getting used to handling him, but he was growing more confident in his ability to take care of the baby as time passed. On the job learning, Wendy had called it, with a smile and then had reassured him that the baby wouldn't break, and they'd be fine together.   
  
Patting the baby on the back, he made ssshing noises as the baby quieted down and he lowered the baby on his roommates bunk. Serves Tony right, he thought with satisfaction as he removed the dirty diaper, wiped, and then taped on the clean diaper.   
  
Gathering the baby up again, and holding him against his chest, the teen reached for the diaper bag, pulling out a half full bottle. Settling himself on the bottom bunk, back against the wall, he propped the baby up on his lap and wiggled the nipple of the bottle between the baby's lips. As the baby contentedly sucked away, the tension slowly left Lucas' body and his eyelids began to sag close as he relaxed. Exhausted from the emotional and physical responsibility of caring for an infant, sleep over took him.   
  
****  
  
He was on the Bridge, as he had been a thousand times before, fooling with the computer. Strangely, though, he was the only one on the bridge. No Bridger, no Ford, no one. He looked around, confused. How very peculiar. The clam doors clanged opened, and in walked the Captain. Lucas stared at Bridger, who was carrying a baby. He was shocked when Bridger thrust the baby at him wordlessly, and then walked off.  
  
Puzzled, he studied the baby, looking up at the footsteps. It was Ford, carrying another baby, which was once again wordlessly thrust the baby at him, and the Commander walked away. The parade continued as Loni, Wendy, Tim, Miguel, Dagwood, and Tony each brought a baby, laid it on the deck and walked away. Soon, the babies began walking in by themselves, crying, one after another, filling the bridge.   
  
Lucas looked around wildly at all the babies, running his fingers through his hair nervously, overwhelmed and on the edge of hysterics. "I can't do it!" he screamed. "Some one, please, help. I don't know what to do!"   
  
On the floor sat a bag and the teen opened it to find pacifiers, which he grabbed and started popping into crying mouths. "The crying, I can't take the crying!" He stood surrounded by babies, trying to cover his ears to block the sound.   
  
The babies started taking off their diapers, and started throwing them at the teen. "You stink, Wolenczak! You can't do anything right!"  
  
The room began to spin as the diapers hit his body and the teen blacked out, tumbling into nothingness.  
  
****  
  
A hand shook him, not so gently, as Bridger's voice broke through the grayness of sleep. "Lucas, wake up, you're dreaming. C'mon, kid, it's ok."  
  
"Captain?" Lucas wiped his eyes, trying to clear the remnants of the dream from his brain, as he stretched carefully, only to find a large lump attached to his chest. Surprised, he looked down to see the baby GELF cradled in his embrace against his body. Whoa, what a dream, he thought to himself.  
  
As Wendy reached for the baby, Lucas saw the Doctor study him cautiously, a question in her eyes. Uh, oh, how much had he been projecting and what had the Doctor picked up?  
  
"Perhaps we can have a little chat later, Lucas?" Wendy suggested quietly to him as she picked up the sleeping infant and handed her to her mother.   
  
Bridger extended a hand to help the teen up. "Everything all right, Lucas? You and the baby seem to have made friends." He smiled slightly at the memory of Lucas, sleeping when they had come in, the teen's arms wrapped protectively around the infant. Knowing it would embarrass the teen if he mentioned it, he kept silent, but knew that he would keep that picture in his mind for a long time. Patting the teen on the back, he complimented, "Good job, kid".   
  
Lucas, still groggy from sleep and reeling from the confusion of the dream, felt relieved as the baby snuggled against his mother. He smiled, happy with himself. No matter what the dream meant, he HAD taken care of the child by himself and delivered the baby safely back to his mother. It was a good feeling, like unraveling a huge computer programming puzzle.   
  
"Are you free next week? We were planning another night out..." Wendy asked teasingly.   
  
All the adults laughed at the horrified expression on Lucas' face. "It's going to take me a month to recover from this diaper duty!" the teen complained as the adults all turned to leave, taking the baby with them. Lucas jumped up onto his bed, closing his eyes and listening to the sweet sound of silence.   
  



End file.
